Earth Sciences

Research reported in Science today (14 October 2004) shows that rocks erupted from the Mount St Helens volcano in 1980 preserve a remarkable record of the goings-on beneath the volcano in the period prior to its eruption.

Using this information, Professor Jon Blundy and his PhD student Kim Berlo from the Earth Sciences Department at Bristol University, UK, demonstrate that monitoring the isotopic content of gases being emitted from the volcano right now will help predict whether

Parisa Ariya’s accidental discovery of the power of bioaerosols to generate rapid and dramatic chemical reactions may change – at the very least alter – the course of climate science.

Ariya, a professor at McGill University’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, in Montreal (Canada), first made her observation in August 2001, after one of her postdoctoral fellows forgot to close the valve sealing the reaction chamber where an organic compound (containing carbon

NASA-funded researchers have found that despite their sub-zero temperatures, a warming north may add more carbon to the atmosphere from soil, accelerating climate warming further.

“The 3 to 7 degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature predicted by global climate computer models could cause the breakdown of the arctic tundra’s vast store of soil carbon,” said Michelle Mack, an ecologist at the University of Florida, Gainsville, Fla., and one of the lead researchers on a study published

At the surface of Earth, life on a geologic scale is calm and peaceful save the occasional earthquake caused by the rub and slip of Earth’s tectonic plates. But below Earth’s surface, scientists are beginning to find a far more dynamic and tumultuous region than previously thought.

Deep inside Earth, where the mantle meets the molten iron core, researchers are finding telltale signs of what could be a highly active area filled with exotic forms and substances. “This layer is far

Historical study shows elevated aridity in periods of warming

Severe drought in western states in recent years may be linked to climate warming trends, according to new research led by scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University to be posted October 7 on Science magazine’s website, www.sciencemag.org. This research was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Epsom-like salts believed to be common on Mars may be a major source of water there, say geologists at Indiana University Bloomington and Los Alamos National Laboratory. In their report in this week’s Nature, the scientists also speculate that the salts will provide a chemical record of water on the Red Planet.

“The Mars Odyssey orbiter recently showed that there may be as much as 10 percent water hidden in the Martian near-surface,” said David Bish, Haydn Murray Chair of Appli